Expects Programmatic to Account for 20% of TV Budgets is Not-Too-Distant Future

Todd Gordon, exec VP at Mediabrands' digital media arm Magna Global, is joining TubeMogul as general manager of the ad tech company's programmatic TV unit, called PTV, the company said.

Mr. Gordon's role, which is new to TubeMogul and its year-old PTV group, indicates that the company will continue to invest in the programmatic TV offering.

The company, which touts software for buying automated video ad inventory, currently works with media companies like Cox and Dish, which recently announced a new biddable TV marketplace. Among TubeMogul's advertiser and agency clients are Mondelez and Digitas.

"Programmatic TV is a large area of investment and focus for us, and adding Todd to the team will help retain our status as an early leader," said TubeMogul CEO and co-founder Brett Wilson in a statement.

The ad tech company has also worked closely with his team at Magna and its trading desk Cadreon, so for Mr. Gordon the move is not a drastic change.

"I have no doubt that a significant portion of TV is going to be planned, bought, transacted and tracked in a different way," said Mr. Gordon. He expects that the 4% of TV budgets accounting for programmatic TV by 2015, according to a recent Magna forecast, will grow to 20% in a "reasonable amount of time."

"It's a massive, many-millions-of-dollars business, and I truly think Tube is best positioned to help make that happen."

His move follows nearly two decades in the media agency business.

Mr. Gordon, one of Ad Age's Media Mavens this year, has spent eight years at IPG media operations, starting with a buying role at IPG media agency Initiative. Through Mediabrands trading desk Cadreon, the two companies built proprietary software for automated TV buying.

Prior to joining the IPG shop, Mr. Gordon spent ten years at WPP's MediaCom. In his more recent career at IPG's digital buying arm, he set in motion nonconventional partnerships, such as a programmatic test the media agency conducted with ABC and a media consortium meant to catapult the automation of media planning and buying to areas beyond just display advertising.

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Alexandra Bruell

Alexandra bruell is the lead agency reporter at Advertising Age. She specializes in coverage of digital, media buying & planning and PR. Prior to joining Ad Age in May 2011, she was a senior reporter at PRWeek. Earlier in her career she worked at a small healthcare ad agency then called TheCementWorks. She earned her BA at Tulane University.